


Cracked Masks

by AcePersona



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Coffee Dad Sakura Sojiro, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Kurusu Akira Has A Lot Of Issues, Kurusu Akira Has Terrible Parents, Phantom Thieves of Hearts as Family, Physical Abuse, Sakura Sojiro Adopts Kurusu Akira, That should be an actual tag, cuddle piles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:14:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25744156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AcePersona/pseuds/AcePersona
Summary: Is Akira Kurusu's life bad? Maybe.Okay, bad is an understatement. Put on probation for doing the right thing, his father not even attempting to defend him and shipping him off to a stranger without second thought? That's pretty bad. But there's also the rumors at school and also being pestered and beat up after school every day. It's a terrible life, but there's not really anybody he can tell.He has great friends, of course, but telling them this would just make him seem weak, and that's not what a leader is supposed to be. Sojiro is there too, but he doesn't want to bother him with his problems, on top of Sojiro's already busy life. So he just carries on with his life, a mask hiding it all. But what happens when that mask begins to crack?
Comments: 8
Kudos: 46





	Cracked Masks

**Author's Note:**

> Did I make another WIP to add to my 5 others? Yes, I did. Who am I to deny my brain's sudden urges to write a new fic? Okay, maybe I don't have good self control, but eh. I hope you enjoy this sloppily thrown together chapter! Which I may fix later!

Akira wiped his bleeding nose with a hand as he limped out of the dimly lit alley, favoring his left leg. He sighed as he looked at the dark sky.

"Good thing Sojiro gave me this after... the last incident." Akira muttered as he pulled a key for the dark café out of his pocket, handling it carefully. He thought back to the time where he climbed up to the attic of LeBlanc to get inside, and chuckled a bit.

Shaking his head to help clear his slightly jumbled thoughts, Akira slid the key into the lock, twisting it swiftly, and opened the door, bell jingling loudly as he entered. Trudging his dirty shoes across the mat by the door, he looked around, eyes adjusting to the dark café.

Every night, he seemingly came home later and later, thanks to the great ol' Alley Jumpers. It's become a sort of expectation in his daily schedule, he'd hang out with one of the others, begin to walk back, and be found by one of them. It didn't matter what route he took, they were seemingly everywhere. Akira shook his head again, and walked up the stairs quietly, took his shoes off, then proceeded to flop onto his mattress.

"It'll stop someday, right...?" he asked quietly to nobody, and sat up, looking around for a particular furry not-feline friend. When Akira didn't see Morgana anywhere, he frowned and sighed.

"Morgana is off somewhere again..." he opened the attic window in case Morgana appeared, and lied back down, staring at the ceiling.

After many minutes of drowsily looking at the dull ceiling, he drifted off into a not-so-peaceful sleep.

* * *

Morgana trotted happily back to Akira's place, a fish held in his mouth. A shopkeeper that had grown fond of the not-a-cat had given it to him, after Morgana had followed him all day.

Seeing the open window, he leapt from a trash can onto a dumpster, then finally up to the attic window.

"Akira?" he called out quietly, while standing on the windowsill. He looked down, and saw a sleeping Akira.

He put the fish down. "It must be late." he mumbled to himself, as he lied down to enjoy the fish.

Morgana ate the fish, occasionally sparing glances to Akira. With each glance, he noticed an injury. A hastily cleaned up bloody nose. An odd placement of his leg. Scratches and bruises littered all over his body.

Morgana huffed. "What'd he do this time? It looks like he went to Mementos without any backup." He guessed, and decided to confront him about it in the morning.

* * *

Akira woke up to the dim sun shining through the window. He sat up to stretch, and saw a sleeping Morgana at the foot of his bed.

"So he did come back..." he thought, trying to clear up his seemingly still sleeping mind.

Getting out of bed carefully as to not disturb Morgana, Akira started to get dressed for school.

By the time he was completely ready, the Sun was still rather dim. "Guess I can help with LeBlanc for a bit." He put on his best neutral face and started walking down the stairs.

But right after he took his first step down, instinctively taking his first step with his right leg, causing the injured leg to buckle, which sent him tumbling down the stairs. When he finally hit the bottom of the stairs, he sat there for a bit, his right leg aching, and the tumble leading his left leg beginning to hurt too.

He grumbled, and stood up. "Why did the world decide to be against me today?"

Sojiro looked over at all the ruckus. "That was a good tumble. You got any injuries?" He asked with a deadpan tone, but his eyes held concern.

Akira put on the most believable grin he could. "Nah, I'm all good. I've had worse." He technically had had worse, so it was only a half lie.

Sojiro still looked skeptical, but shrugged. "If you say so. You don't have to leave for about another hour, so feel free to help out."

Akira nodded, and walked/limped while hiding his limp the best he could over to behind the counter.

"Maybe today won't be completely bad..."

Thinking that was his first mistake of the day.

**Author's Note:**

> So, there's the start. A lot still hasn't been revealed, and I'll reveal it all a chapter at a time. Probably. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and I hope you stick around for future chapters, despite me not really having an update schedule, especially with school starting back up soon. Also, please note that this story will get a lot more dark in the future. But I plan to post warnings for those chapters in the beginning notes, so don't worry about that. Hope everyone is surviving in this mess! Thank you!


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